Share the Good News: Homily for Thursday, April 16, 2026

Share the Good News. When was the last time you started or had a religious conversation with someone about your faith? When was the last time you offered from your heart what God and his goodness has done for you? Readings for Today.

Share the Good News

Well, once in my life, I was involved in a court case. I was a very tiny and minor witness, but I needed to be deposed. Now, if you haven’t been deposed, it’s a miserable experience, even though, really, I wasn’t even a witness to anything terribly controversial. I, for one, understand when Bill Clinton said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” because that’s exactly what you’re advised to do by your lawyer.

One, to make very clear that you understand the question, and then to say as little as possible in an answer, which, of course, for me is a challenge. But it’s an important part of our process, and today’s readings speak to us of witnesses and testimony, and the Apostles did not follow any advice of modern-day lawyers because their answers were lengthy, they antagonized the court, it wasn’t a case where they endeared themselves to try to get out of something. Just the opposite.

Their witness was bold. Their lives had been changed, and they spoke about how much they had been changed, and what Jesus, in his love and mercy, had done for them. Jesus, too, talks about testimony, the testimony that he gave, but no one would listen. They didn’t accept it.

As Catholics, this idea of being a witness and of giving testimony is at the very heart of what it means to be a Catholic. Now, I don’t know about each one of you, but one of the persons who has been baptized, who was baptized at the Easter Vigil, has already brought someone into the OCIA. When was the last time we brought someone who didn’t believe or who needed to grow to faith? When was the last time we witnessed so strongly that they, too, wanted what we had?

The resurrection is a life-changing event, but in its familiarity, sometimes we can forget just how life-changing it can be for people. What do you witness to? When was the last time you started or had a religious conversation with someone about your faith? When was the last time you offered from your heart what God and his goodness has done for you?

We live in a world that is absolutely insane. It’s very difficult to look around the world and see much of anything good, at least from the news, but we still know that Jesus has saved us. We still know that Jesus, who is risen from the dead, wants an eternal relationship with us, and we still know that deep in our hearts, Jesus still touches us so that we can find what we need, that we can have what is missing, that we can have healed what is broken. That’s the witness of our faith.

The world is so desperate to hear a message like this. The world is so in need of the good news of the gospel. Heck, the world is in need of good news at all, but we have the best good news of all.

We have the resurrection of Jesus and his life-changing presence, and Jesus reminds us of something critical in this journey of testifying and witnessing. He says we’re not testifying or witnessing on behalf of someone who can’t do much. We witness and testify on behalf of the one who is above all. We witness and testify on behalf of the one who can do everything for us and for the world. Today, go forth and share the good news.

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